Translated material
Interrogation or PR action?
Former President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych was supposed to answer the court questions in Kyiv in the case of the death of the death of demonstrators on the Maidan in February 2014. However, the interrogation was postponed on December 28 due to the inability to deliver to the process of the defendants. Yanukovych and ex-commander-in-law of the internal troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Stanislav Shulyak should act as witnesses at the process against former employees of the Berkut special forces, who are accused of shooting at protests on the Maidan. The current Ukrainian authorities believe that it was Yanukovych in the winter of 2014 that ordered the special forces to open fire on demonstrators.
Radio Freedom Video Translation from the Court in Rostov-on-Don.
In the evening, Yanukovych gathered journalists for a press conference. He stated that he “dreams of ending the war in the Donbass” and advocates preserving the region in Ukraine. To restore the world, he urged to withdraw the troops and provide the region with a wide autonomy. The former president accused Kyiv of unleashing the conflict in the Donbass.
According to Yanukovych, the document on the introduction of troops and martial law in the winter of 2013-14 was signed by him "at an emotional moment", but "was not put into action." He also noted that the events of Euromaidan led to the Russian annexation of Crimea.
Yanukovych expressed regret due to the loss of Ukraine’s control over the territory of Crimea, but called the actions of Russian President Vladimir Putin in the spring of 2014 “worthy of respect”.
On November 24, Yanukovych’s lawyer Vitaly Serdyuk called on the state judicial administration of Ukraine to ensure a high -quality and reliable video between the Svyatoshinsky district court of Kyiv and the Rostov Regional Court of the Russian Federation to interrogate his client.
On the evening of November 24, in the center of Kyiv on Zhilyanskaya Street, 85, an underground manifold was burning for almost five hours. The fire occurred 700 meters from the building of the Svyatoshinsky court and could be stained, according to the sources of the 112 Ukraine television channel in power structures, in order to disrupt the interrogation of the former president.
Two days earlier, the senior prosecutor of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine Alexei Donskoy on Espreso.TV said that Russia could technically block the "uncomfortable" issues of the Ukrainian investigation during the video communications of the two vessels.
In addition to Viktor Yanukovych, the former commander of the internal troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Stanislav Shulyak, the former commander of the internal troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, should have been questioned. While in the Rostov court, they will answer issues of defense, prosecutors and victims in the case against five ex-employees of the Berkut police special forces accused of execution of 48 Maidan activists on Institutskaya Street in Kyiv in the winter of 2014. According to the Prosecutor General’s Office, 2.5 thousand people were injured during Euromaidan, 106 of them died.
According to the director of the Kiev Institute of Global Research by Vadim Karasev, the video review will be used by Viktor Yanukovych for his moral and political rehabilitation, and possibly to start a new political game.
- For this, from the point of view of Yanukovych, good conditions have matured, the very fact of a video review, which, by the way, is opposed by the Prosecutor General of Ukraine and the investigating authorities conducting the case of executions on the Maidan. On the other hand, three years later, since the beginning of the “revolution of dignity ”, there are many confused and disappointed with what is happening inside Ukraine, and many say that the European idea does not work in Ukraine now and will not work in the future. Such statements are associated with the current processes in the European Union, where they are constantly postponing the introduction of the visa -free regime of Ukraine with the EU. But the "revolution of dignity" began with Euromaidan when Yanukovych refused to sign an agreement on the Association of Ukraine with the European Union. And, by the way, this agreement has not yet been ratified by the Netherlands (27 other countries of the European Union have done this for a long time, and the Netherlands held a referendum last spring, at which more than 60% of its participants spoke out against ratification).
Yanukovych would like to remain one of the factors and tools for shaking the situation in Ukraine
And this complex of problems, postponed solutions, as well as the slow pace of adaptation of the Ukrainian economy to the free trade zone with the EU, from the point of view of Yanukovych and those who stand behind him, creates a good information and psychological atmosphere for this kind of PR action, interrogations, political rehabilitation and, possibly, returning to more active participation in information support both Yanukovyovich himself and in matters, and affairs, affairs that concern Ukraine.
But we are not talking about the rehabilitation of Yanukovych in Ukraine, this does not mean that Ukrainian politicians and Ukrainian politicians are waiting for his return. That's just the opposite here. However, from the point of view of his “role” in history, it is obviously important to him, and then Yanukovych would like to remain one of the factors and tools with the help of such a new political information activity to shake the situation in Ukraine, the formation of zones and factors of political instability. And it seems to me that no one has canceled such a task (set by the Kremlin), ”said Radio Liberty Vadim Karasev.
Yanukovych’s lawyer Viktor Serdyuk repeatedly insisted on the speedy transfer of the Maidan case to the court, saying that this would allow his client to “openly, without censorship to present to all citizens of Ukraine the real version of the events of this tragedy.”
The lawyer of the victims and relatives of those who died on the Maidan Pavel Dikan believes that Yanukovych’s testimony from Russia, which provided him with political asylum, will not be objective:
- In fact, from mid -2013 to date, Yanukovych has been influenced by the owner of the Kremlin Vladimir Putin. I would not expect any revelations from the testimony of the former Ukrainian president. The Prosecutor General of Ukraine is investigating the case regarding the organization and system of corruption in our country. And all the events that occurred, from our point of view, were an attempt to protect this system and avoid responsibility for large -scale corruption. This actually led to executions on the Maidan in order to suppress the protest movement.
It is clear that Yanukovych will tell that he had nothing to do with it and the executions on the Maidan allegedly took place without his participation. Or he may argue that the actions of law enforcement agencies at that moment were absolutely justified, including executions, beating, abduction of activists and other crimes. It is unlikely that we will hear the words of repentance from the mouth of Yanukovych. It is likely that he will justify his actions with conditional violence by the protesters.
We all, of course, would like to hear objective testimonies. What really happened at that time? What was the then head of state to do with decision -making not only on February 20, 2014, when the largest number of demonstrators were shot, but also in the previous period. Until now, Yanukovych’s position was that he was not involved in anything, and everything that happened then in the center of Kyiv was excesses of performers. However, even the system excesses of the performers for three months, from my point of view, cannot be justified by the words of Yanukovych that he "did nothing" all this time. " I think that we will learn the truth based on the results of an objective investigation, which must be continued with the maximum support of state bodies. And this, unfortunately, we are not observing now, ”lawyer Pavel Dikan told Radio Liberty.
At the same time, the secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine , Alexander Turchinov, believes that Yanukovych should not be interrogated as a witness to the cases of events on the capital's Maidan, but as the main accused.
"This interrogation was initiated by the defense of the Berkut fighters, who are accused of execution of Maidan activists. The Russians who gave permission for this interrogation simply want to make a show in which the" Witness "Yanukovych will protect the" Berkutovites "and water the mud Maidan. I am convinced that Yanukovych should be interrogated not as a witness, but as the main accused, and everything is for this, and everything is for this. The grounds starting from large -scale corruption to his personal responsibility for the execution of the “Heavenly Hundred”. You have to answer for this, ”Turchinov said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
Viktor Yanukovych served as president of Ukraine from February 25, 2010 to February 22, 2014, when he fled from the Ukrainian capital. On this day, the Verkhovna Rada made a decision according to which Yanukovych "self -polluted from the fulfillment of his constitutional powers." Almost a year after the flight, the parliament deprived him of the title of President of Ukraine.
Now Yanukovych continues to live in the territory of the Russian Federation, several criminal cases have been opened against him in Ukraine, in particular, about the execution of Maidan activists, frauds during the privatization of Ukrtelecom, illegal seizure of Mezhigorye and Sukholuchye residence, as well as regarding the adoption of Verkhovna Rada on January 16, 2014 "dictatorial laws".
On October 21, 2014, President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko signed a law that makes it possible to judge Yanukovych in absentia. The Prosecutor General Yuri Lutsenko, appointed by the Verkhovna Rada by the Verkhovna Rada, promised until the end of 2016 to transfer to the court a “big criminal case”, which is a person involved in the fugitive ex-president Viktor Yanukovych.